Local Safeways Get Ahead of Themselves

In their effort to prove that they support local, the local Safeways have gotten a little over-enthusiastic in promoting as "locally grown" products that are not locally grown in Hawaii.

They may be locally grown, but in some other locale. Several alert readers have pointed this out to us, and may we say once again that the Hawai`i Seal of Quality is your guarantee that the produce you are buying is number one and from Hawai`i.

Safeway does sell locally grown foods -- a lot of them. It's just that a current signage campaign has been pretty misleading.

Some locally grown foods are not yet part of the Hawai`i Seal program, but you need to look carefully to make sure you are buying local!

P.S. Safeway: We hear Dean Okimoto and Alan Wong are NOT happy!

Hawai'i By Bicycle!

Ed Hartz and his company http://www.freshhawaiian.com/ sells and delivers fresh produce from Hawai`i online to customers in New York.

A fairly new company, their site is not complete, but it's definitely worth a look -- and how very cool for Hawai`i.

This photo was provided by Ed Hartz via Hawaii Department of Agriculture's Matthew Loke.

Ford Will Eat GM's Lunch

The new campaign "Why Ford. Why Not," the fact that they took no federal money and that they are keeping their heads held high -- if you ask me, Ford is the Great American Automobile Brand.

Their commercials, just airing (or at least I'm just seeing them) feature the perfect regular guy -- with total, across-the-board appeal and a message that is straightforward and compelling.

Bring your old clunker in and Ford will help you recycle it and get money from the government for doing it.

They are aiming to have their new Taurus be the best selling car in its class, and their promise is that no matter what you're looking for in any class, Ford will have it. Starting with the 2010 Ford Fusion and the Fiesta -- selling well in Europe and coming to the U.S. next year.

go to http://www.ford.com/ and forget about GM.

Republicans Have Already Rebranded

They are the party of No. There is a really good riff on the subject in today's Huffington Post, by Joseph Romm, saying that the GOP is more like Groucho than Marx. It quotes and features a video from one of his films:

I don't know what they have to say,

It makes no difference anyway,

Whatever it is, I'm against it.

No matter what it is or who commenced it, I'm against it.

Your proposition may be good,But let's have one thing understood,

Whatever it is, I'm against it.

And even when you've changed it or condensed it,I'm against it.

I'm opposed to it,

On general principle, I'm opposed to it....

Hawai'i IS Different

Often we argue that Hawai'i is different, and therefore advertising agencies often get special exceptions to create and run local commercials for a national product. As we become more global, that seems to be a less valid argument.

However, in one case that is currently on the air, we think it would behoove the local ad community to get together and produce a couple of local spots that follow the theme "Not Even Once" set by the national campaign.

The excellent spots on television for the Hawaii Meth Project are nationally produced spots which are a: "research-based messaging campaign—which graphically portrays the ravages of Meth use through television, radio, billboards, and Internet ads‹has gained nationwide attention for its uncompromising approach and demonstrated impact. The campaign's core message, "Not Even Once®," speaks directly to the highly addictive nature of Meth.

All of the featured "meth users" are haoles. The commercials are still powerful; but their power would be geometrically magnified if they featured local people. go to www.hawaiimethproject.org for more info.

You Can do it! WHO (?) Can Help!

Home Depot's all time great tagline is no more. Now they use "More Saving. More Doing." (bolding is theirs). I don't know about you, but what I don't need is "more doing."

Nicorette recognizes a good tagline when they see one though: Now it's

"You can do it. Nicorette can help."

Saw that one on TV last night but thought I'd share the one on their website (above) which is written as if to exhort you to "Stop smoking gum." (need a hyphen anyone?)

Meanwhile, Can Santa Cruz Still Sell T-shirts?

This is a question for the great legal minds of history.

Surf City U.S.A.

According to the New York Times, after a heated battle for the name with Santa Cruz, Huntington Beach is officially rebranding itself "Surf City U.S.A."

Be sure to bring your wetsuit.

My Father Invented The Debit Card

He just didn't know it. Born in 1908, a first generation American, he lived through the depression and never wanted to owe anyone anything. He paid cash for every car he owned. He paid cash for the first three houses we lived in -- never had a mortgage til we moved to a town that was too rich for us.

He carried an American Express card, but mostly paid cash. When he and my Mom went on a trip, he would take several thousand (i.e. two or three) dollars out of his savings and send them

to American Express. Only then could he comfortably use the card on their vacation.

There you have it. The original debit card.

Forget those in vitro flashcards!

Get Juicy Juice instead. If your tired of shoving those little flashcards up your veejayjay (thanks Oprah), you can now wait for your child to make its appearance in the human world before you

have to start teaching him to read. In fact, all s/he has to do is drink Juicy Juice and it will be no time before s/he is at your bedside with a box of Cherrios trying to get "some cholesterol off you."

Nestle -- late to the water game, and I believe we have castigated them for it -- is now producing Juicy Juce that actually says "Brain Development" on the bottle.

Are they nuts?

Charmin-g!

The visual is a small piece of the header of sitorsquat.com

When I sat down to write this blogpost, I thought I was going to write about Charmin's toilet seat covers (5 to a pack) which I saw at the cash register at Long's today. Although I am not one who favors public restrooms, I cannot imagine carrying toilet seat covers around in my purse. Turns out a lot of people do.

So I went to research this unknown-to-me phenonmenon and found the Charmin sponsored site

wwww.sitorsquat.com ---a place you can go to find clean public toilets. Although this seems counterintuitive to selling toilet seat covers, I congratulate Charmin on one of the most ingenious community sites ever. You can : find a toilet . add a toilet.

Straight from the site: http://www.sitorsquat.com/ will help you find a clean public toilet on your mobile phone. Now that's an app I bet people are looking for!

Cool, Blue dog Democrat

Representative Patrick Murphy, Congressman from Pennsylvania, has taken on the task of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." He has framed the argument rationally, and is taking some of the heat off the Prez by saying congress passed the law, congress must repeal it.

Anyway, I like the guy, and think he is crafting a very smart political brand.

Here he is with a great Hawaiian soldier, Eric Shinseki from Kauai.

P.S. He also knows how to use sports metaphors, unlike the point guard who passes the ball and takes herself out of the game.

How to spell Ironic

After all the news about plastic bottles and landfill issues, Nestle introduces a bottled water --- and gets a gold LEEDS certification for their building, pictured above. Nestle did a lot of things to make the building enviropolitically correct, except for the plastic bottle part.

Here's to your health ????? I(oh yeah, and "attractive" is evidently not part of LEEDs standards)

From Nestle's Website:

Key green features of the Arrowhead plant include:
• Water safeguards – managing the quality of storm water runoff.
• Water efficiency – reduce the need for irrigation by using native and water conserving plants; using low-flow, water-saving fixtures in bathrooms.
• Energy efficiency – high efficiency lighting, HVAC and controls.
• Moveable exterior walls – designed to deconstruct and be reused.
• Constructed wetlands – treat wastewater through natural biologic filtration before the water is recharged to groundwater sources.
• Pollution prevention – parking area is dedicated to bicycle, electric vehicle and carpool users; corrugated paper, plastic, product pallets and other materials are recycled.
• Non-toxic building materials and maintenance – durable, non-toxic materials were selected for the building, with consideration for the materials’ life cycle impacts on water.
• Resource efficiencies – recycled content building materials (over 50 percent as calculated under LEED) were selected for the building. Approximately 60 percent came from local sources, limiting long-haul transportation.
• Waste reduction – more than 75 percent of the building construction waste was salvaged or recycled.
• Indoor environmental quality – indoor spaces are enhanced by innovative space design and sophisticated controls that monitor and regulate interior temperature, humidity, lighting and air quality.